


Still, Always

by Major



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-11 00:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5606317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Major/pseuds/Major
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the zombie apocalypse, but Connor's priorities don't change. Number one on that list is Oliver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still, Always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ellievolia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellievolia/gifts).



> This was written for Fandom Stocking. Happy Holidays!

Life used to make sense. Back when protecting Oliver meant keeping him in the dark about the seriously screwed up true crime dramatizations he and his friends were acting out in real life. Connor missed the days when making sure Oliver wouldn't go to jail as an accomplice was his biggest problem. Now he needed to make sure Oliver didn't get _eaten alive by the walking dead._ It was safer behind bars at this point.

Annalise was standing in front of the group in her living room just like always, only now there wasn't any electricity, the food supply was low, and walking across the street could get someone killed or infected. This was all that was left of the world. His family was gone. Order was gone. No prison time, so perk, but the whole everyone-dropping-dead thing balanced things back into a downer. Especially when they didn't stay dead and went around trying to chomp what was left of his friends.

Annalise looked at all of them: tired, thinner, on edge since the fear never went away. It only got temporarily quiet. "This next run won't be easy, but we need food. We have to branch out farther. Frank can't do it on his own. I need a volunteer."

Oliver shifted in his seat beside him on the couch, arm moving up; he was still enough of a good boy to raise his hand in the middle of a meeting about the logistics of not getting eaten by zombies. Connor stopped aching for the trophy and the position of teacher's pet back when Annalise started making them move dead bodies. And that was pre-apocalypse.

"I'll do it," Connor spoke up before Oliver could.

The world was blown to hell, but his priorities were still the same. Protect Oliver above everything else.

Oliver's eyes turned to him, but he didn't look back. He would have been happy to leave it to Wes or Laurel, the other good Samaritans of the group, but he couldn't sit back if Oliver was fixing to be stupid. It _was_ stupid now to try to be a good guy. They needed to look out for themselves to have the best chance of surviving. He felt less like a good guy now than he ever did - his motivations selfish and increasingly dark, he would flip on all of them if they threatened what mattered - but he could pretend to be a good guy. For Oliver.

"I could come too," Oliver told him when everyone had dispersed and gone off to start doing what Annalise had instructed. That, at least, was still the same. "Help you and Frank. I could be lookout. Or chase the zombies off."

Connor was feeling nervous about going, but the tension whooshed out with a short laugh. "The fact that you think you can 'chase them off' is alarming. Maybe I _shouldn't_ leave you alone. You realize they're not trick-or-treaters you can scare off your porch if you wag a cane at them, right? I think they'll actually eat your face for that."

Oliver scrunched his nose at the image, and it was weird that someone could still be cute in the apocalypse. People had sharp edges now and a hardness in their eyes. The world had changed and so had everyone still fighting to stay in it. Yet Oliver was cute and still trying to be good. Connor needed to keep that part of him safe for as long as he could. Keeping Oliver alive mattered most. Keeping Oliver _Oliver_ was a close second.

"I'll be back soon," he said, pulling him into a kiss that wasn't friendly. It was _I love you_ and _I promise_ and _goodbye_ \- just in case. Every kiss was loaded with innuendo. Nothing was certain anymore. Except that Connor would come back to him if he could.

"You know what I miss? M &M's. And Snickers. And chocolate in general," Oliver said. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

Connor stood up, stretching and enjoying the way Oliver's eyes lingered over his body. "You know what I miss? Uninterrupted marathon sex without worrying about a zombie horde storming the house if you get too loud."

Oliver's blush was instantaneous and delicious.

Frank appeared in his line of vision, frowning. "And I miss not being within earshot of you two pervs when you take the risk anyway."

Like he was one to talk. Everybody in the house with opportunity had taken up loud sex as a zombie virus coping mechanism.

"Hey," Oliver tugged on his hand, and he looked back down at him. "Be careful. Come back."

"I always do," he bent to kiss him a final time, this time for comfort: _I'm here, it's okay,_ and still, always _I love you_.

The trip took six days. They had to go out farther than originally planned when store after store turned up empty shelves. Road trips with Frank did not promote bonding but agitation, and Connor's anxiety rose with every swing of his bat into a zombie brain. They hadn't been able to loot a pharmacy and liquor stores had been the first to get raided when the nation went into a state of emergency, so he couldn't self-medicate to tame his anxiety. There was no calling or texting home. With one untreatable strain, the world had been reduced to a simpler time. They had to travel too far for even their walkie-talkies to reach each other. He worried about Oliver. He worried about Oliver worrying about him. It kept him moving. Eventually, the trunk was full of supplies. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to keep them going. For now. It was the temporary nature of their security that kept his anxiety up the whole ride back.

All of it melted away when he got back to his bedroom and found Oliver asleep in bed. That was all it took for him to remember that he had something to lose, and he would do whatever it took to keep from losing it. They were going to be okay, because they had to be. He laid down behind him and pulled him close, leaving a package of M&M's on the pillow for him to find when he woke up.

It was the apocalypse, but it wasn't the end of the world. Not as long as he had Oliver.


End file.
